Golf ball retriever

ABSTRACT

A golf ball retriever, an open-end container having a depth larger than the radius of a golf ball, is optionally made of plastic material and is installed at the end of a golf club grip, whereby a golf ball can be fitted from an opening to the open-end container, which provides a flexible gripping force to pick up the golf ball.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The invention relates to a golf ball retriever, installed at an end of a golf club grip. The golf ball retriever, optionally made of plastic material, is an open-end ball-shaped container with a depth that is larger than the radius of a golf ball. Thereby, a golf ball can be fitted through the opening in the ball-shaped container, while the flexibility of the open-end ball-shaped container provides a flexible gripping force to keep the golf ball inside the container.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] To get away from busy working routines, people take part in sports to relieve the tension, such as basketball, volleyball, or football. However, not everyone can participate in exercises that require intense physical activities and may be prone to injury. Sedentary workers, especially middle-aged or over, need a less intense exercise, therefore golf becomes an ideal sport for them to relieve working pressure and to provide mental and physical relaxation.

[0005] In recent years, the population of golfers has been on the increase. To meet that demand, manufacturers have been seeking improvement on golf clubs, with a view of providing better comfort in striking the ball and gripping the golf club. But they have never taken into consideration better ways of picking up golf balls. Picking up the golf ball is a necessary and frequent routine, but not all golfers are accompanied by caddies to pick up golf balls for them. In the process of picking up a golf ball, the player has to bend the lumbar region, therefore susceptible to muscular pain in the lumbar region. In addition, with the golfer's repetitious movement of squatting and standing for picking up golf balls, the golfer's knees are going to bear tremendous amount of pressure, thus prone to strain and injury.

[0006]FIG. 1 shows how a golfer picks up a golf ball in a conventional way. After putting the ball into a hole, the golfer 10 has to bend his knee to pick up the ball, and then straighten up his knee to stand up. In the process of picking up the ball, a golfer would use his golf club 11 as a stick as an aid. As there is no ball retrieving device installed in the conventional golf club 11, the golfer has to repeat bending his knees, which may cause injury to his back or knee joints. People playing golf are mostly middle-aged or over. To them, slight injury may bring serious consequences. Furthermore, using the golf club 11 as a stick to help picking up the ball will not only cause damage to the turf, but will also bend or deform the golf club 11, resulting in incorrect aiming and reduced service life of the club 11.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The primary objective of the invention is to provide a golf ball retriever that is installed at an end of a golf club grip. The golf ball retriever is an open-end container, made of plastic material, thereby a golf ball is fitted through an opening into the open-end container to pick up the ball.

[0008] The second objective of the invention is to provide a golf ball retriever, whereby golfer does not have to bend his knees to pick up the ball, so that he can keep his body straight in the process of picking up the ball, therefore reducing burden on his back and knees and avoiding possible injury.

[0009] The characteristic of the invention is illustrated in the preferred embodiment of the invention. The golf ball retriever is installed at an end of a golf club grip. The golf ball retriever is an open-end ball-shaped container, optionally made of plastic material; thereby a golf ball is fitted through the opening in the ball-shaped container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings where:

[0011]FIG. 1 shows how a golf ball is picked up conventionally.

[0012]FIG. 2 shows how the golf ball retriever of the present invention is used to pick up the ball from a hole.

[0013]FIG. 3 shows a disassembled view of the golf ball retriever of the present invention.

[0014]FIG. 4 shows how a golfer holds the grip of the golf ball retriever of the present invention.

[0015]FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the golf ball retriever in a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0016]FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the golf ball retriever in a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0017]FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of the golf ball retriever in a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018]FIG. 2 shows how the golf ball retriever 2 of the present invention is used to pick up a ball. The golf ball retriever 2 is installed at the end of the grip of the golf club 3, when picking up the golf ball, the golfer reverses the golf club 3 upside down, so that the golf ball retriever 2 is to be placed into the hole and the golf ball 20 is to be retrieved from the hole. Then, the golf club 3 is turned over again so the golf ball retriever 2 is turned up to face the golfer who can retrieve the golf ball 20 out of the golf ball retriever 2. Thus the golfer does not have to bend the knees or squat down to pick up the golf ball.

[0019]FIGS. 2 and 3 show the detailed structure of the golf ball retriever 2 of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a disassembled view of the invention of golf ball retriever 2. The golf ball retriever 2 is an open-end ball-shaped container that is optionally made of plastic material. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there are slits on the rim of the opening of the golf ball retriever 2, forming a flexible opening 21. The depth of the ball-shaped container is larger than the radius of the golf ball 20, so that the golf ball 20 can be fitted from the flexible opening 21 into the ball-shaped container. On the outer surface of the bottom of the golf ball retriever 2 another opening 22 is formed, so that the opening 22 of the golf ball retriever 2 can be fastened onto the end of a grip 30 of the golf ball club 3.

[0020] Please refer to FIG. 4 that shows how the golf club 3, equipped with the golf ball retriever 2 of the present invention, is held by a golfer whose palms and fingers are gripping on the grip 30 of the golf club 3. The installment of the golf ball retriever 2 only results in a fractionally extra length to the end of the grip 30, so the golfer shall not be influenced in any way by the golf ball retriever 2 during grip-holding and club-swinging.

[0021]FIGS. 5 and 6 respectively illustrate the top plan views of a first embodiment and a second embodiment of the golf ball retriever 2 in the present invention. For the golf ball retriever 2 of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, the rim of the flexible opening 21 is divided by two slits into two flexible parts 23; when picking up a golf ball 20 with the golf ball retriever 2, the flexible slits of the flexible parts 23 provide better gripping performance for the flexible opening 21 to clamp the golf ball 20, and better points of force application for the golfer to retrieve the golf ball 20 out of the golf ball retriever 2. In the second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 6, one flexible part 23 is formed on the rim of the flexible opening 21 of the golf ball retriever 2; with the elastic deformation of the flexible slit, the elastic opening 21 can pick up the golf ball 20 with a clamping force.

[0022] In the third embodiment of the present invention, the golf ball retriever 2 has a deformable opening with better flexibility; thus, with the installment of slits being omitted, the simple design of smooth opening can also achieve the purpose of picking up golf balls.

[0023] In FIG. 7 that shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention, the golf ball retriever 2 is further integrally formed with the grip 30 of the golf club 3, wherein the golf ball retriever 2 is an open-end container made of rigid material, extending from the end of the grip 30. On the inside of the opening of the golf ball retriever 2 is a slightly protruded flexible ring or protruded juts 211. The flexible ring or protruded juts 211 provide a flexible gripping force. Optionally, there are a specified number of protruded juts 211 that are distributed in a ring. So, when a golf ball 20 enters the golf ball retriever 2, the golf ball 20 will squeeze the flexible ring or protruded juts 211 to the inner surface of the opening and radially to the wall of the golf ball retriever 2, while in turn, the resiliency of the flexible ring 211 will grip the golf ball 20 and prevent it from falling off.

[0024] Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art can easily understand that all kinds of alterations and changes can be made within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments contained herein. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A golf ball retriever installed at the end of the grip of a golf club, characterized in that said golf ball retriever is formed, with an opening, as an ball-shaped container made of plastic material, thus a golf ball can be encased in said ball-shaped container.
 2. A golf ball retriever as in claim 1, wherein said plastic material can be rubber.
 3. A golf ball retriever as in claim 1, wherein the rim of said opening is divided by a slit.
 4. A golf ball retriever as in claim 1, wherein said rim of said opening is divided by two slits.
 5. A golf ball retriever as in claim 1 or claim 4, wherein said rim of said opening is installed with two elastic ears.
 6. A golf ball retriever as in claim 1, wherein the depth of said ball-shaped container is larger than the radius of a golf ball.
 7. A golf ball retriever as in claim 1, wherein the depth of said ball-shaped container is slightly longer than the radius of said golf ball.
 8. A golf ball retriever as in claim 1, wherein said golf club is a putter.
 9. A golf ball retriever, characterized in that said golf ball retriever is formed, with an opening, as an ball-shaped container made of plastic material, thus a golf ball can be encased in said ball-shaped container.
 10. A golf ball retriever as in claim 9, wherein said golf ball retriever can be installed at the end of said grip of a golf club.
 11. A golf ball retriever as in claim 9, wherein the depth of said ball-shaped container is larger than the radius of said golf ball.
 12. A golf ball retriever as in claim 9, wherein the depth of said ball-shaped container is slightly larger than the radius of said golf ball.
 13. A golf ball retriever as in claim 9, wherein said golf ball retriever is formed integrally with the grip of a putter. 